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Hey guys- Here is the Rubies Vader bucket mod I did. First, I stripped the inside completely using goof-off and alot of elbow grease. Next, contacted the local autobody paint shop and they had no problem (although charging me an arm and a leg) painting it for me. Finally, I added the extra thick foam padding from Joannes Fabrics. I know most of you troop many times throughout the year and when it comes to the padding however, I dont troop and have a tiny head (Sm in flex-fit hats). That being said, the bucket fits beautifully and MUCH better than it previously did. Any thoughts?

Hey Obro- Thanks man..you know, I did order new lenses but they werent pre-shaped..hence, it was a royal pain in the A _ _! Also, they were really lightly tinted...anyways, I popped the old ones back in as they were better. My Vader is almost complete. Im waiting on my leather suit from Fenix. Looking forward to your fett build!
B

Hey Dynamic - as a one-time Rubies modder myself I figured I'd chime in - looks like you've done a great job there so far. That's more padding than I've ever seen in one helmet before! I know we don't all have David Prowse-sized noggins, but wow! I'm amazed you can fit your head in there!

As for lenses, I think I ended up getting the same "shape them yourself" replacements you did as part of a lot I bought once. I found that really frustrating, too and so I just bought the largest pair of sunglasses I could find and used those instead. Fenix used to make replacement lenses, too - since you already ordered your suit from him it might be worth hitting him up and saving yourself the hassle of trying to located sunglasses that are big enough, with the right curve, etc... Whichever lenses you use, you might want to consider putting some mesh on the inside to hide your eyes - I actually used some flyswatters for that. Worked perfect!

Did you get rid of the neck flair? As far as I can tell you did. I know that my helmet didn't even sit upright until I boiled the neck a bit, so it's a huge improvement and really feels better when wearing it.

A few small things that really bothered me about my Rubies that I noticed you didn't get to yet are the nose ridges and squaring out the bottom of the grill, as well as the removal of silver plastic nose piece. The nose ridges super soft-edged and lopsided on every Rubies I've seen, and it's a pretty easy fix with some filler and filing. Same goes for the grill bottoms, which are rounded in the Rubies but should be squared. Of course, now that you've already got it painted up, it may not be worth the hassle and expense, but I figured I'd point them out in case you're interested. Removing the silver plastic nose piece, filing in the hole, and hand painting the area silver is super easy and really makes the helmet look a lot more authentic. I would highly recommend you do it as it's really only a half hour job tops.

Hey Mark- Thanks alot buddy! Ya, I will prob just leave as is for now as I have the MR. LOL, yes, the padding does appear a bit on the excessive side but it is really comfy and not too hot as ive worn it for a bit...obviously not too long : ). I did sort of get rid of the neck flair w/ a blowdryer. Id love to see a pic of yours if you have one handy.
Thanks again buddy..any comments are welcome anytime.
B

Hey Dynamic,
I took a look for the helmet in my basement and at this point it's boxed up and buried pretty deep under the stairs...gonna have to wait for spring cleaning I think. In the meantime, here's a link which I used as a reference when I was doing my mods: Vader Helmet
Hope that helps,
Mark.

Alright, so it was bugging me that I couldn't dig out my helmet, and then I remembered that I took a few WIP shots, so I did a little virtual digging instead and found them: Rubies Darth Vader Mods pictures by MarkusFett - Photobucket There aren't any shots of the finished product, but it gives you a pretty good idea, anyway. You'll notice I had to add quite a bit of filler to the eye sockets to make them small enough to accomodate the largest sunglasses lenses I could find. I'm not too happy with that aspect of the project, which is why I think I'd buy some purpose-made Vader lenses if I ever did another Rubies mod. I also filled and moved the tears to a more accurate position than the original Rubies mold.

Also, it's too bad that I don't have any shots of the back - I found that my velcro attempt to keep my neckseal on just wasn't working, so instead I permenantly attached a neckseal with bolts on one side of the neck and drilled out some L shaped knotches on the other side of the neck that correspond to bolts in the neckseal. This way I can slip on the neckseal and lock it in - absolutely zero threat of it coming off while I'm out and about.

Dynamic! I have been looking for a post for a couple of days now that showed one of THE BEST Rubies Supreme Edition Mods I have ever seen. I can't find the specific one where he gives a full list of what he did, but there are several pics of his finished product. Poke around on theforce.net under costuming. The member's name is SEDUCED. I will PM you a link to the post with the pics. Maybe you can contact him and get his full list of mods. It's a BEAUTIFUL Vader!